Going National While Staying Southern: Stock Car Racing in America, 1949-1979
GOING NATIONAL WHILE STAYING SOUTHERN: STOCK CAR RACING IN AMERICA, 1949-1979 A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty By Ben A. Shackleford In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the History and Sociology of Science and Technology Georgia Institute of Technology December, 2004 GOING NATIONAL WHILE STAYING SOUTHERN: STOCK CAR RACING IN AMERICA, 1949-1979 Approved By Dr. Steven Usselman Dr. Gus Giebelhause Dr. Doug Flamming Dr. Philip Scranton Dr. William Winders Date Approved 22 July 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A work of this scope inevitably draws upon resources outside the individual author. Luckily I have been able to draw upon many interested and willing librarians and archivists while conducting research for this project. I would like to thank Rebecca Lynch, Roger White, Maggie Dennis, Joyce Bedi, at the Smithsonian Institution. Buz McKim at the ISC archives, Betty Carlan at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Staff of the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library, and Bonnie Walworth at the Ford Motor Company archives in Dearborn, Michigan. I would also like to thank the Lemelson Center, the Atlanta History Center, the Riddle Foundation and the School of History, Technology and Society at Georgia Tech whose generosity permitted me to work in such a variety of collections. Studying the history of technology often requires technical expertise beyond that available in the classroom. During my experience as a racing mechanic and fabricator I was fortunate to have many very capable teachers who willingly shared their expertise. Among these are my Robert Wagner, Smokey Yunick, Chris Brown, Amos Johnson, Thomas Blam and Franz Blam.
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